Meh! Tuning N2 the Mayoral Race

The 'choice' for Mayor of Boston comes down to this: Marty Walsh or John Connolly.  While Walsh has the backing (and endorsements) of the Democratic Party establishment, Connolly still has sufficient 'juice' to wage a viable contest for the Mayor's Office.  

So both men have followed traditional paths to office within the Democratic Party. Here and now, this leaves us with a mayoral race that is culturally-coded as a class-based tension between those who rose through the ranks, however brief (as in the case of Marty Walsh) and those bred to hold office (e.g., John Connolly).  

Even though both men have been public officials for years now, neither are forwarding their voting records as a basis for comparison. Marty Walsh has been a State Representative  (Dorchester) since 1997; and has sponsored legislation and taken key votes that might give Boston voters some insight on how he'd govern the City as its Mayor.  

John Connolly has served as a Boston City Councillor-at-Large since 2007.  He has taken on two committee assignments that should be of interest to Boston voters: Education, the one he's made the linchpin of his campaign; Environment and Health, the one he's relying on to paint himself 'green.' 

(See upcoming post cautioning against political 'green-washing' campaigns hurt movements to build civic engagement capacity overtime.) 

Yet voters are basically expected to (quite literally) overlook the track records of candidates Walsh and Connolly in favor of the implicit frame of class-based warfare.  Once Marty Walsh and John Connolly are successfully cast as the working-class hero versus the hero of political elites, voters can simply prefer one or the other on that basis.  

So which one will I choose?  Meh!

What You Don't Know CAN Hurt You!

"I had no idea that there was a pipeline out here;

I mean literally, right at the corner of the 

subdivision...supposed to be a 20-inch

pipeline runs from Illinois to Texas.

 I don't know. " 

Mayflower, AR Resident  

This comment captures what most exasperates me about how the oil and gas industries do business.  More often than not, We the People have no say about decisions made in quiet rooms, precisely because we're kept in the dark; even when our very lives are at stake.

The families who once lived in this Mayflower, Arkansas subdivision never knew their children played atop a pipeline bearing a toxic soup of oil sands and chemicals compounds. Without doubt, they never would have known if the 30 year old pipeline had not ruptured--spilling its Canadian Wabasca Heavy Crude; coating backyards, drive ways, and streets in oil, and worse. 

ExxonMobil probably did there, what it's trying to do here: it put an old pipeline to new uses and didn't ask about potential consequences.  

It's time We ask what pipelines are coursing through our communities? And what are they carrying? 

Most people I've talked to didn't know ExxonMobil is moving towards piping Canadian heavy crude (aka "tar sands") through New England as well.  

Many of us are mobilizing to keep New England tar sands free.  Visit 350MA.org or 350NE to find an action near you.  

At minimum, We can demand a Presidential permit be required as is the case with the KeystoneXL pipeline. This would trigger the State Department's involvement and an environmental impact study before ExxonMobil could use this pipeline to ship tar sands.  It's the least We can do.

Rally to Stop #TarSandsNE Pipeline

The Mattapan Action Network is joining with @350NewEngland's Stop the #TarSandsNE Pipeline Action.  (See previous post to see why.)

Yesterday, though few, we took a stand at one of our neighborhood ExxonMobil stations, in solidarity with a statewide action coordinated through 350NewEngland to raise awareness about ExxonMobil's plans to bring tar sands oil into the Northeast region.

At minimum, ExxonMobil should not be able to pipeline oil sands through our communities without even an environmental impact study on the harm it might cause. 

BE #IdleNoMore!  Follow us @MattapanAction or use #TarSandsNE to track the issue.  Please consider the following action steps: 1. sign 350NewEngland's Pledge of Resistance; 2. ask your elected US Representative to request Pres. Obama require a Presidential permit for this pipeline; and 3. join the @350MA TarSands Pipeline Action Campaign. 

Never hesitate to contact your elected representatives.  It's especially urgent that you contact US Senators--John Kerry and Elizabeth Warren. 

Calling Sen. Kerry is particular key since he's soon to become Secretary of State. (The US State Dept. conducts the Presidential permitting process related to pipelines crossing US borders.)  You can even call his office now: 617.565.8519 or 202.224.2742.  Sen. Warren's office needs to hear it directly from you as well: 617.565.3170 or 202.224.4543.  

US Rep. Ed Markey sits on two of the House's key committees related to oil and gas: the Energy and Commerce Committee; and its Committee on Natural Resources.  

Contact all of them over the next week. In all cases, ASK her or him to request a Presidential permit for the project. 

(Right now, ExxonMobil's trying to exploit a use permit associated with an existing pipeline in order to channel tar sands oil through the northeast region.  A Presidential permit would trigger an environmental impact review that its current use permit does not require.)

BE #IdleNoMore!  Engage. Email us: MattapanAction@gmail.com if you'd like to join an #EnvironmentalJustice meetUp to soon come.   Use #EJmeetUp and #TarSandsNE to track the issue on Twitter.

Let's Be TarSands Free! No Pipeline

Stop the #TarSandsNE Pipeline Action

You've probably seen one of ExxonMobil's commercials promoting oil sands production. Typically they rely on the image of a professional person-of-color to sell us on the idea that oil sands production means good jobs for more Americans.

ExxonMobil doesn't want to talk about how oil sands extraction is hastening the environmental degradation of Earth--our only home.  How?  

First, by strip-mining the planet's only remaining ancient boreal forests--forests so dense they can absorb GHG-emissions. Obviously as these ancient forests disappear so will their capacity to slow our acceleration toward climate catastrophe.

Second, the process of extracting oil sands aka "tar sands" is itself toxic--meaning, it's laden with heavy metals, sulfur, carcinogens and neurotoxins that are harmful to human health. To make matters worse, toxic chemical compounds are added so 'the wheat' (bitumen--embedded petroleum deposits) can be separated from 'the chaff' (rock, stone, sand encasing it).  

The waste water from these toxic chemical processes are then stored in #ToxicPools; cause like other #DirtyEnergy producers, ExxonMobil hasn't figured out how to dispose of their waste in ways that don't endanger human health.  

There is another aspect of the press for oil sands that ExxonMobil doesn't want to talk about, however.  It would be too costly to build refineries in Canada to process oil sands--described as "the dirtiest oil there is."  So ExxonMobil wants to send tar sands through existing pipelines--pipelines that leak, spilling its toxic brew of oil and chemical into aquifers, rivers, streams, farmlands, etc.

It is because of this third step in the chain that Mattapan Action is rising up in protest.  We'll join @350NewEngland's Stop the TarSandsNE Pipeline Action--taking a stand at the ExxonMobil station at the intersection of Morton and Blue Hill Ave.  

During the morning and evening rush hours on 23 Janurary we'll be there to lend our voice of opposition--asking others to join us in contacting all their elected representatives. At minimum, ExxonMobil should not be able to pipeline oil sands through our communities without even an environmental impact study on the harm it might cause.    

Even if you can't join us at Morton & Blue on the 23rd, you can do the following: 1. sign @350NewEngland's Pledge of Resistance; 2. ask your elected representatives to request Pres. Obama require a Presidential permit for this pipeline; and 3. join the @350MA TarSands Pipeline Campaign. 

Hope to see you next Wednesday.

Trayvon Martin, Overtones

The Call to Action Begins

The murder of Trayvon Martin has brought Florida's "Stand Your Ground" from the shadows, into the light.  Since 2005, when it became law in Florida, the rate of self-defense claims in homicide cases has jumped significantly. As Think Progress Justice puts it, statistics show "that 'justifiable homicides' have shot up in Florida since the self-defense law passed" (Beadle, 22 Mar 2012).

Other similar NRA-fashioned bills (under titles like the "[My Home Is My] Castle" law, "Shoot First," and "Stand Your Ground") have spread, in a highly coordinated march--becoming law in 28 states--across the nation.  It is an incredible feat, really; especially when you consider the snail's pace at which the U.S. Congress gets things done [not].  

In a few short years, by comparison, the Koch Industries-sponsored "American Legislative Exchange Council" (ALEC) has been extremely successful at moving laws that basically facilitate the sale of guns and ammo.  Walmart has been a particular beneficiary of these bills; moving--as they have--in tandem with laws allowing distribution chains like Walmart to sell firearms and ammo to as many people as possible. 

Anyway, ALEC has functioned to bring newly-minted Republican governors and state legislators especially, into the kind of "quiet rooms" where, according to Mitt Romney, the real deals are made. 

Through ALEC, the Koch Brothers host Republican governors, state legislators, and even US Supreme Court Justices, apparently--bringing them into close, out-of-the-way proximity with lobbyists and corporates elites profiting on the manufacture/sale of guns and ammo:

•   The NRA--the public outreach and lobbying arm of gun manufacturers; 
•   The National Association of Firearms Retailers (aka NSSF)--most notably, Walmart; and,
•    Koch Industries, itself.

You might want to ask if your own state legislator has attended an ALEC conference (or more); and if they've sponsored any piece of model legislation they received as a handout there.  Wonder if anything else exchanges hands?

Anyway, the murder of Trayvon Martin brings into painfully sharp relief the injustices Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, and others similarly fashioned, will continue to rain down upon us if we don't act to reverse this particular tide.  Massachusetts is not immune.  

Take Action

Remember, as Walmart goes, so do such laws.  Last year a version of this bill--specifically, Senate Bill 661--began to wend its way, quietly, through the halls of the Massachusetts General Court.  On the Senate side, 661 expands Castle to anywhere one "has a right to be;" on the House side, H 1568 'tweaks' firearms licensing requirements to comport with the provisions of S 661. 

We must act now!  You might have noticed that it's always easier to block something from becoming law than it is to repeal it once it becomes law. (Think Bush tax cuts.)

The Joint Committee on the Judiciary is supposed to convene on the 27th April 2012 to consider these legislative proposals.  Details to TBA in upcoming posts.  

In the meantime, please sign our petition, and if you feel the urgency as we do, circulate it as well.

ACT NOW 

Trayvon Martin, Reflections

Part One:  Backstory

     This post was supposed to lay out action plans related to establishing voter registration drives and other @MattapanAction #Election2012 activities.  It was supposed to have been published a couple of weeks ago now.  


Issues far more urgent have consumed this working group, however; for the past ten days at least: seeking #Justice4Trayvon Martin (may he rest in peace #RIP); and more importantly, perhaps, justice for his parents--Sybrina Fulton and Tracy Martin.  

     It wasn't only that Trayvon Benjamin Martin--a baby-faced, 17 year old--was shot dead for no apparent reason.  Oh, that's right, "he look[ed] Black...," according to the 911 call George Zimmerman made that night.  

       It's that the Sanford Police handled  the investigation into Trayvon's death, and his body, as if he was the 'perp' rather than a murder victim.  Sandford Police approached their investigation of Trayvon with unusual diligence: they swabbed his hands, looking for gun shot residue; they conducted a background check on him; even drug-tested his body.    Curiously, it seems George Zimmerman didn't have to undergo any of these indignities, even with a 9mm gun in his hand.

     It's also that this initial mistreatment of Trayvon Martin has been, and continues to be, extended to his parents as well.  No time to grieve for their son, really.  Too busy seeking #Justice4Trayvon--at minimum, the arrest of his killer.  Too busy having to defend Trayvon from would-be character assassins who clearly have no shame.

     Of course the urgency of all this has been compounded by one simple fact: George Zimmerman--the 28 year old who first stalked, then chased, and ultimately shot Trayvon Martin, has yet to be arrested for this crime.  Even now--more than a month after the fact, George Michael Zimmerman remains free of all charges; despite probable cause to arrest.  None of this made sense; and the more the State of Florida ignored their pleas for answers, the more Trayvon Martin's parents grew stalwart.

     Initially the Sanford Police Department claimed it was powerless to effect an arrest: Florida's "Stand Your Ground" law, they said, gave Trayvon's killer a 'pass.  Initial reports claimed  Zimmerman felt threatened; and on this basis, had a right to defend himself under the law.  


Yet we know--from the 911 call George Zimmerman made to the Sanford Police--that he (mis)characterized Trayvon Martin as "a real suspicious guy" for nothing more than "just walking around, and looking about...;" that Zimmerman can be heard chasing Trayvon; and that the dispatcher told him, "we don't need you to do that."  What part of "no" didn't Zimmerman understand?


We also know that Trayvon wasn't the only person George Zimmerman terrorized that night. Several 911 calls to the Sanford Police that night attests to the anguish Zimmerman's actions brought to everyone within earshot.  See the trauma this event brought to a 13 year old nearby.


     We know Trayvon Martin cannot 'speak' from the grave.  So we must rise, to speak in his stead.  

Timeline

     

     

     

Presidential Primaries, Local Elections

Next Tuesday the Boston Elections Commission will once again oversee the conduct of the Presidential primary elections.  Of course Boston's Election Department does the actual work of managing 254 polling locations throughout the City on election day.


This means the Election Department hires people to work on a per diem basis.  Even at this late date it might not be too late to get hired as a poll worker, especially if you are bi-lingual.  The application can be submitted electronically as well.


If you get hired as an Elections Officer in time for Tuesday's Presidential primaries (not very 'presidential,' actually), other than the early call (6 AM), it's likely to be easy day-work.  


Mitt Romney, former Governor of Massachusetts, is considered the inevitable winner of the Republican primary; and Barack Obama, current President of the United States, is running unopposed for the Democrats.  So turnout will be low.  


Certainly this comes as no surprise, however.  Mattapan voters must be used to an 'air of inevitability' hoovering over local elections by now.  Most of our local elections afford an opportunity to cast a vote; but more often than not, candidates running for office in Mattapan are running unopposed.


There's so little real choice that's it's no wonder so few register to vote, and so many registered voters don't bother showing up at the polls.  


This suggests a call to action--something for our working group to consider going forward.  


If we want people to get involved--to register to vote, and vote on election day, then our elections should offer them viable options from which to choose.